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Thursday, August 21, 2014

Current State of Obamacare Issues

So many disasters are occurring both at
home and in the outside world (Ferguson, IRS, Illegals swamping the
border, Muslim terrorism and butchery, Jihadist advances throughout
the Middle East, ebola); the issues associated with Obamacare have
been swept off the front page.

This is a report listing the current
state of those issues, which still need to be exploited by
Republicans in the election this year.

1. Big premium hikes are slated for 2015.
Because the country erupted in outrage over the millions of policies
cancelled under Obamacare, which made a lie of the president’s
vow, “If you like your insurance you can keep it,” the White
House reversed course and allowed people to maintain existing
coverage. As a result, the Obamacare exchanges were starved of the
healthier people needed to pay for the sick and poor previously
without insurance. Insurers are now planning
to raise premiums.

According to PwC
Health Research Institute, the average premium increase request
for 2105 in North Carolina is 10.8 percent; in Iowa the hike is 11.5
percent. Many in Louisiana are looking at almost a 20 percent
increase, and in Arkansas nearly 12 percent. That’s big,
unpleasant news for Democrats.

2. Critics claim the Obama administration is fudging the ACA
enrollment numbers. The White House trumpeted that 8 million
Americans had signed up for Obamacare, but that total has been
shrinking. Aetna, one of the program’s biggest players, reports
that of their 720,000 enrollees, only about 600,000 are paying for
their coverage, a number they expect will drop
to about 500,000 by year-end. Other insurers indicate fall-off
as well.

3. People are angry about the narrower choices of doctors and
hospitalsavailable to them. In New Hampshire,
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield was the sole insurer participating
in the marketplace; it eliminated
10 of the state’s 26 hospitals from its network. According to
Politico, such is the uproar about shrinking choices that
“since the beginning of 2013, more than 70
bills have been introduced in 22 states to clarify the network
rules, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.”
In California, more than one group has sued Anthem Blue Cross,
charging that the insurer misrepresented the scope of its doctor
network
.Related:
Up to 300,000 Could Lose Obamacare on Federal Exchange4. The ACA was constructed incompetently. The U.S. Court
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently ruled illegal the federal
subsidies paid to Obamacare enrollees in states that have not set up
their own exchanges -- a stark reminder of how badly the healthcare
bill was implemented. This and other unintended consequences are
excellent arguments for significantly overhauling the ACA – an
undertaking that might be possible under a Republican Senate but
that has little or no hope otherwise.

5. Obamacare highlights the president’s imperial tendencies.
Mr. Obama has single-handedly changed the ACA some 24 times,
delaying important provisions such as the employer and individual
mandates. The president has rigged the rollout of the ACA to
political advantage, putting off the most painful aspects of the
bill and front-loading the goodies. Republicans should remind voters
we have yet to encounter, for instance, the 40
percent Cadillac tax, which has been pushed back until 2018, but
which is expected to raise as much as $214 billion by 2023.

6. Obamacare undermines job creation. The ACA has been the
most important of a number of White House policies that have
discouraged job creation at a time when the country is struggling to
put people back to work. At last tally, there were 92 million
adult Americans who are not working (like stay-at-home moms), are
unemployed, retired or disabled. The workforce participation rate is
at a decades-long low. This is unsustainable, and Obamacare is not
helping. Companies have limited their hiring and also the number of
hours their employers work because of the bill and have faced
increased uncertainty. Meanwhile, because of the ACA, Americans no
longer need to work to get health benefits – maybe a good thing
for individuals, but not for a country whose safety net must be
funded by an ever-greater workforce.

In short, there’s still meat on the bones of the Obamacare
carcass; Republicans running for office should get out their knives
and forks.

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About Me

Russell Wilcox is a retired college professor who spends several months in Florida and several months in Rhode Island each year, and whose interests include boating and sailing, sports, political activism, ballroom dancing and bridge. He has an MBA from Harvard, a Computer Systems CAGS from Bryant and a BS from Northeastern. He has worked in industry for EG&G and Texas Instruments, operated his own business with more than 200 employees, and served as Director of the Computer Information Systems Program for Stonehill College. An Army veteran and private pilot, he is a published author, and is the proud father of four children and the proud grandfather of seven grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. A holder of two patents in microchip connections and a true product of the melting pot, his father is the son of a Yankee farmer, and his mother the first generation daughter of Italian immigrants who retained their culture, but strove mightily to become Americans, sending four sons to fight against Hitler and Mussolini.